Soviet administration bringing some anguish to the convict (5)
I believe the answer is:
gulag
'soviet administration' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'bringing some anguish to the convict' is the wordplay.
'bringing' becomes 'g' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'some' indicates the central letters.
'to the convict' becomes 'lag' (slang term for a prisoner).
The centre of 'anguish' is 'u'.
'g'+'u'+'lag'='GULAG'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gulag that I've seen before include "Soviet prison camps" , "Labour camp in the Soviet Union" , "Former prison camp in the USSR" , "Soviet camp system" , "Soviet camps for dissidents" .)